O'Brien's debut as Texans coach a catalyst for Brown reunion

They will fly in from across the country: Boston, Seattle, Providence, R.I., and Santa Barbara, Calif. Most haven't seen each other in 20-plus years. Many have loose ties, strung together by four long-ago years at an Ivy League school. All are converging for one man: Bill O'Brien.

Next Sunday against the Washington Redskins at NRG Stadium will be the biggest coaching moment in the 44-year-old life of the Texans' new leader.

But while O'Brien roams the sideline and finally takes center stage before a stadium packed 71,054 strong, more than 100 Brown University alumni will celebrate one of the most important days in the school's football history and honor a coach they're increasingly proud to call their own.

"It's not easy to reconnect all the time with your friends from college," said Houston-born and current resident David Cromack, who helped coordinate the reunion and is hosting an after-party at his house. "So this event has really … given these alums a reason to reconnect. And much of it is just because of Bill O'Brien, who he is as a person."

O'Brien could easily nod his head to the ex-Brown Bears and stay confined within the Texans' 24/7 world. Instead, he's expected to stop by Cromack's house and catch up with former teammates, many of whom haven't been in the same state since leaving Providence.

"Bill is supposed to show up when his duties as coach of the Texans are over, and so everyone is very excited about that," Cromack said.

The 1991 winner of Brown's offensive lineman award keeps a picture of the first O'Brien reunion, when about 30 alumni turned Penn State's 2012 season opener into a cross-country Brown Bear gathering. After the Nittany Lions fell 24-14 to Ohio, O'Brien hosted a Brown convergence at his house, Cromack said.

"When he got the Penn State job, that's when myself and a lot of my teammates really started to pay a lot of attention, because he replaced another Brown alumnus in Joe Paterno," said Cromack, who has followed O'Brien's career from Georgia Tech and the New England Patriots to a near-job at Notre Dame.

This time, Cromack's watched a single email turn into a swelling list, with former college teammates and their spouses basing the first weekend of September around O'Brien's Texans' debut.

"It grows by the week," said Cromack, who was a year ahead of O'Brien at Brown. "It was 25 when I volunteered to host the party, and now it's over 100."

O'Brien has spent decades working toward his new job and eight months preparing for Week 1. When the Texans and Redskins finish battling next Sunday, Brown will be waiting.